This invention pertains to resistance train. devices, and more particularly to a resistance training device for use in performing squat exercises.
Squat exercises are often an important part of a conditioning or rehabilitation program to strengthen the muscles of a person's lower body. In the past, squat exercises have been performed by a person balancing a weight bar on the shoulders behind the neck, and thereafter squatting while supporting the weight in this manner. This approach presents numerous drawbacks, most notably if the person has an injured back or does not have sufficient back strength to support enough weight to properly exercise the muscles stressed by squat exercises.
The problems associated with squat exercises have been recognized and addressed in development of a belt-type weight-supporting device shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,786 entitled "WEIGHT SUSPENSION APPARATUS FOR SQUAT EXERCISES" issued Jan. 15, 1991, which is hereby incorporated by reference. This patent discloses a belt-type device which enables a weight to be suspended from a person's waist and located between the person's legs during performance of a squat exercise. This removes the person's upper body from bearing any weight, and ensures that the muscles of the person's lower body bear all the weight during performance of the exercise.
An important feature provided by the weight-bearing device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,786 is that the location of the point of connection of the weight is maintained below the user's center of gravity during the back-and-forth movement provided by performance of a squat exercise. This feature eliminates incidental stresses on the person's musculosketal system, ensuring that the weight is borne only by the muscles stressed during performance of a squat exercise.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,786 shows and describes a person performing a squat exercise by suspending weights between the legs, and standing on blocks or pedestals, in order to provide clearance for the weights during performance of the exercise.
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the need for a person to stand on pedestals to perform a squat exercise when using a weight suspending device in which the weight is located between the person's legs.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a resistance apparatus which is engageable with a connection arrangement such as provided on a belt-type device, and which provides front-to-rear tracking to maintain the resistance below the user's center of gravity during performance of a squat exercise.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a unitary structure for assisting a person in performing a squat exercise, addressing the preceding objects.
The invention contemplates a resistance apparatus for use in a squat exercise system, wherein a belt-type device is worn by a user and includes a connection arrangement located between the user's legs and in which the connection arrangement moves along with the user in a back-and-forth manner during performance of a squat exercise. In accordance with the invention, the resistance apparatus provides a flexible elongated element which is engageable at a first one of its ends with the connection arrangement of the belt-type device. A resistance arrangement is interconnected with the flexible elongated element, to provide resistance to the belt-type device when the first end of the elongated element is engaged with the belt-type device connection arrangement. The resistance arrangement may take the form of weights connected to the second end of the flexible elongated element, or a brake-type resistance mechanism interconnected with the flexible elongated element. The resistance apparatus further includes a tracking arrangement for the flexible elongated element, to provide back-and-forth movement of the flexible elongated element at a point below its engagement with the belt-type device connection arrangement during performance of a squat exercise. The resistance apparatus preferably includes a platform on which the user stands, with the platform including a slot in which the flexible elongated element moves in a back-and-forth manner during the squat exercise.
In the disclosed embodiment of the invention, the flexible elongated element is a chain, which is trained about a series of sprockets between the weights and the belt-type device connection arrangement. The tracking arrangement comprises a sprocket mounted between a pair of gears, with the gears being engaged with parallel linear gear tracks. The gear tracks are mounted to the underside of an upper panel associated with the platform of the resistance apparatus.
The invention further contemplates a squat exercise system consisting of a belt device in combination with a resistance apparatus, both as summarized above, as well as a method of providing resistance during performance of a squat exercise, substantially in accordance with the foregoing summary.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.